


Bart's First Christmas

by khaki_da



Series: Bluepulse fics [5]
Category: Blue Beetle (Comics), Impulse (Comics), Young Justice (Cartoon), Young Justice - All Media Types
Genre: Bluepulse, Christmas, First Kiss, Fluff, Humor, M/M, Mistletoe
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-20
Updated: 2017-12-20
Packaged: 2019-02-17 17:32:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,101
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13081788
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/khaki_da/pseuds/khaki_da
Summary: When the team throws a holiday party, Bart has to rely on Jaime to teach him about some very strange holiday traditions of the past.





	Bart's First Christmas

**Author's Note:**

> This is part one of my yj secret santa gift for young-justice-trash on tumblr!

“So you’re telling me there’s a holiday where an old guy breaks into people’s houses, through the chimney… in the middle of the night? And people are totally fine with that?” Bart had a hard time wrapping his head around all of the weird traditions and holidays of this era. Luckily, Jaime was catching him up on some things before the team’s holiday party later so he wouldn’t be completely clueless.

“Uh, yeah, pretty much.” Jaime answered while he browsed through the rack of sweaters in front of them. Dick had made the rules for party attendance very clear: _no ugly sweater, no entry._

“Sounds creepy.” Bart shuddered.

“Yeah, I guess it does sound a little creepy when you put it that way. Don’t worry, Santa’s not real. It’s just a story made up to sell coke products. Parents use it to get their kids to behave all year long.” Jaime said, as he continued rummaging through the sweater rack as if what he had just said made any kind of sense at all.

“Okay, no offence, but you guys have some pretty weird customs.”  

“Hey, judge all you want, hermano, I’m just the messenger. They’re not all bad, though, I promise.” Jaime gave Bart a confident smile. He somehow knew Bart would end up loving the holidays.

“Okay, sure, whatever you say…” At that point, Bart had moved on from trying to understand this era’s weird customs. A religious messiah’s birthday, reindeer with glowing noses, an old guy sneaking into people’s houses, coke, ugly sweaters… it all made Bart’s head hurt. He distracted himself by pulling a sweater off the rack and holding it out for Jaime to see.

“Look at this one! Pretty crash, right?”

“Yeah, that’s pretty crash, hermano. You should get that one.” Jaime laughed. It was a sweater with a velociraptor dressed up like Santa.

Bart pulled the sweater on over his shirt. It was way too big on him, and the sleeves hung well past his fingertips. Bart flapped his hands back and forth a few times to emphasize how long the sleeves were.

“This is the softest thing I’ve ever worn. How do I look?” Bart asked, still amusing himself with the flapping sleeves.

“Like a velociraptor.” Jaime laughed. The long sleeves made Bart’s arms look much shorter than they really were.

At that, a huge grin took over Bart’s face, and he pulled his arms in to make them look even shorter. Then he lunged towards Jaime, making what he assumed were supposed to be velociraptor noises.

Jaime hopped out of the way. Bart bent his legs like he was getting ready to pounce again.

[The Bart Allen’s method of attack is inefficient. This is not a recommended tactic.]

Jaime could almost hear the judgement in Khaji Da’s voice. The scarab had gotten used to Bart, and no longer found him a threat. In moments like these, he’d switched from wanting to ‘eliminate him’ to critiquing his fighting skills.

“Hijole, he’s joking, Kha- ah!” In Jaime’s moment of distraction, Bart tackled him to the floor, landing right on top of him. Jaime thought Bart would try to wrestle or something, but instead, he cupped Jaime’s face in sweater-covered hands. Bart’s intense green eyes stared into him, and Jaime froze. He could feel his ears burning, and he was sure his cheeks had turned some ungodly shade of red.

[Heart rate has increased rapidly, Jaime Reyes. This situation can be easily deflected, and you have not taken action. I request permission to take control.]

“Feel how soft!” Bart smiled wide, and rubbed his sweater-hands on Jaime’s face. Jaime let out a breath he’d been holding for what felt like ages, but had probably only been a few seconds.

Jaime laughed. It was _really_ soft. “I’m fine, Khaji.”

Bart hopped off and held out a hand to help Jaime up.

“Oh, sorry, did I freak him out again?”

Jaime let Bart help him up.

“Oh, uh, a little. Don’t worry about it.” As Jaime dusted himself off, a sales clerk approached them.

“You guys need any help? Are you looking for anything in particular?” She asked, taking notice of the sweater Bart was wearing. She might have thought he was going to try to walk out with it still on.

Bart looked down at his sweater and quickly took it off. “Sorry, yeah, we’re looking for ugly christmas sweaters!”

“Oh, great! We have some really cute matching sweaters over here.” She sifted through one of the racks and pulled out two sweaters, holding them side by side. “If you stand next to each other like this, it’ll look like a reindeer!”

“That’s so crash!” Before Jaime could say anything, Bart took the sweaters and went to pay for them. Jaime decided not to protest. Bart was actually paying for something for once, since Jay and Joan had given him some money as an early christmas gift, and who was Jaime to stand in the way of a free sweater, especially if it made Bart happy.

…

When Jaime and Bart got to the party, almost everyone was already there. Cassie was the first to greet them.

“Hey, guys!” She tilted her head as she looked at their sweaters. That’s when Bart noticed he was standing on the wrong side of Jaime. He zipped to the other side of Jaime and draped an arm over his shoulder.

“Crash, right? It’s a reindeer!” He smiled proudly, and Jaime couldn’t help but grin, too. Bart was too adorable. Of all the things he could get excited over for christmas, of course it would be the ugly sweaters.

The next hour or so consisted of Jaime explaining to Bart the meaning behind all of the confusing holiday rituals. Christmas was starting to grow on Bart. He didn’t understand most of the traditions, but it was really nice being around all his friends without having a mission to do. Everyone seemed so nice when the fate of the world wasn’t at stake.

Bart finally felt like he was starting to understand some of this stuff when he noticed a strange plant hanging from the ceiling. He got the idea behind the tree, sort of. It was a decoration that you could put your presents under. But he couldn’t think of any present that would fit under such a tiny plant.

“What’s that?” He asked Jaime, pointing at the strange plant.

“Oh, that’s, uh, mistletoe.” Jaime blushed for some reason, which just made Bart even more curious.

“What’s it for?” But Jaime didn’t seem to hear him, instead he argued with his scarab.

“Khaji, there’s no threat! I’m just - ay ay ay - Bart, I have to, uh, go to the bathroom.” And he ran off.

“Okay.” Bart shrugged. With Jaime gone, Bart figured he’d ask someone else about the mistletoe, so he approached Robin, who was was wearing a christmas sweater, an elf hat, and sunglasses to hide his identity. It made him look like a really cool elf.

“Hey, Robin. I have a question for you.”

“Hey Bart.” Robin smirked, “I have an answer for you.”

“What’s the point of mistletoe? I tried to ask Jaime, but he ran off ‘cause of Khaji Da, or something.”

Robin pointed at the plant just in time for the two of them to see Wally pull Artemis under the mistletoe and kiss her.

“So, what, it’s like a kissing plant or something?” Bart asked.

“Yeah, it’s basically a kissing plant.”

“That’s actually… really cute.” Bart said as he watched Artemis and Wally walk away from the mistletoe hand in hand, both smiling.

Cassie had been standing nearby, and must have overheard the conversation, because at that point she jumped in.

“I’m sorry, I can’t just stand idly by while you miss an opportunity to be wingmanned.”

“Wingmanned?” Bart tilted his head. Every time he felt like he was caught up with the past, there was always something else he didn’t understand popping its head up.

Cassie just grinned, “You and Jaime. You’re both so obvious it hurts.”

“Um, obvious about what?”

“I mean, I could be totally off, but I’m pretty sure I’m not. You like him, right?”

“‘Course I do!” Bart responded, why wouldn’t he like Jaime?

Bart stumbled sideways from Cassie nudging his shoulder. Damn, she was strong.

“But do you _like him_ , like him?” Bart looked confused, so she kept going, “As in, like a crush? Like, more than just a friend?”

“Well, yeah.” Bart said matter-of-factly.

“I knew it! Who’s the detective now, Robin?”

“Still me. It’s not like he was trying to hide it.” Robin said with a smirk.

“Why hide it?” Bart would never understand the ways of people in this era. Was it supposed to be a secret or something? He had no reason to lie.

“I don’t know, maybe in case you’re worried he doesn’t feel the same way. Which, just so you know, he obviously does.”

“Really?” Bart looked to Tim, who nodded along with Cassie. “How can you tell?”

“I just can. He’s worse at hiding it than you are.” She laughed.

“I don’t get it. Is there some kind of unspoken social rule of crushes I’m missing here?”

“Not really,” Robin chimed in, “you said the scarab freaked out when you asked Jaime about the mistletoe, right?”

“Yeah…”

“Khaji Da freaks out when he thinks something’s wrong with Jaime or when he’s in danger. His heart rate probably jumped up when you asked, so Khaji Da thought he was in danger and freaked out. Think about it, when does Khaji Da usually freak out around you?”

Bart mulled it over for a moment. He didn’t freak out when Bart tackled Jaime earlier, but when he touched his face, he did. Khaji sometimes seemed to assume Jaime was in danger with harmless physical contact like that.

“So you’re saying I make him feel threatened? How is that a good thing?” Bart slumped his shoulders.

“No, I’m saying you make him feel _nervous_.” Robin answered.

“Because he likes you! You should kiss him, Bart, mistletoe is the perfect opportunity!” Cassie clapped her hands together in excitement.

“You really think he likes me?” Bart didn’t understand how a raised heart rate or being nervous was supposed to be a good thing, but what did he know about modern-day dating?

“Of course!” Cassie chirped, and Tim nodded in agreement. Considering that the amount of people Bart had ever crushed on was exactly 1, and also that nothing about this era made any sense at all to Bart, he figured Cassie and Tim would know more about this kind of thing than him.

Just then, Bart saw Jaime walk out of the bathroom, and he felt his heartbeat quicken at the sight of him for some reason. Cassie gave Bart a reassuring nudge that once again had him stumbling forward. At that, he decided to waste no more time.

Everyone and everything else in the room slowed down while Bart sped over to Jaime. As he ran, he felt his cheeks flush and his heart started to beat even faster. If Bart had an alien scarab fused to his spine, it would probably be freaking out right about now.

Bart got to Jaime’s side just as he passed under the mistletoe. Without thinking twice, he kissed him on the cheek. When he pulled away, Jaime’s cheeks were red and his eyes wide.

“I figured it out. The mistletoe, I mean. I, uh, I hope that was okay?” Jaime let out a deep breath before responding. It was times like these that Bart didn’t appreciate being a speedster. Everything was slow, and Jaime’s response took way too long.

After what felt like a lifetime, Jaime answered by cupping Bart’s cheeks in his hands and going in for a kiss of his own.

Once again, Bart felt his heartbeat quicken, while everyone and everything else slowed down. Instead of waiting for Jaime to finish _slowly_ making his move, Bart closed the space in between them at his preferred speed - fast.

Bart couldn’t tell if time was standing still because of the kiss or his powers, but it didn’t matter. For once, he didn’t mind having the world stop around him. When they pulled away to look at each other, Bart couldn’t keep the smile from his face.

“You were right.” He managed to say.

“Huh? Right about what?” Jaime’s face was still flushed, and he seemed to just be coming back to his senses. Bart still hadn’t stopped smiling.

“Turns out some of your traditions aren’t so bad after all.”

**Author's Note:**

> Hijole - jeez


End file.
